Thanks, that makes me more confident. I was thinking of Anna-Michelle but clearly both women qualify.

I suggest one minor amendment of your phrasing: "I should be watching all attention and investments devoted to play, including my own, for clues as to what is important to them in the story, and focusing my inter-session prep there."

In other words, instead of thinking of this as a players-to-GM cueing issue, simply toss everything you're saying about them into the same stew that includes everything you are finding important and interesting too. Although your job as GM is different in terms of what you do moment to moment in play, your job as a human at the table is no different from anyone else's: grab what's there to be grabbed and go with it.

i]John: Peter continues to play the relationship scenes with great enthusiasm!

The two put their heads together for a bit over the fragment of Meyer's journal. His cryptic clue as to where he has hidden the ruby mentioned "when the moon pulls on the water." We randomly determined that the next high tide would be at 8PM, which put a bit of time pressure on their dinner plans. Yeah, about dinner...

Von Braun opined that Schultz was involved somehow in Elsa's father's death, and proposed that they take extreme measures to get it out of him. Elsa tentatively agreed to a plan involving sodium pentathol (isn't it convenient, playing a medical doctor??) and a box of chocolates. They decided to invite Schultz to dine in their rooms, for privacy and to save time. When they called the front desk to order dinner, their contact Martin informed von Braun of the latest rumours, that the Nazis had cordoned off the entire mellah and were clearing it out.

John: The players commented that Elsa seemed to slide too easily into morally questionable behaviour, ie. drugging her father's ex business partner in order to interrogate him. I thought it was in character (it's looking more and more like something shady is going on and Schultz is involved), but if the others didn't think so then I haven't been playing Elsa strongly enough.<John: Serge was quite rough with the poor engineer. Come to think of it, Ry had played Serge using intimidation and superior strength with anyone and everyone, even loved ones, whenever demons were concerned. It really showed how close to the edge Serge was over all this demon business.

Jacques promised the demon "lots of enemies to eat" (via the unwilling translator), and the Binding began. Serge knocked out the engineer, carried him up to the surface and left him in someone's backyard to recover, then went to sit on the steps of his church. Mike declared that the matter of the binding would involve Jacques and the Demon scratching in the sand, attempting to develop a means of communication. We made it a Will roll, which ended up +2 in the demon's favour. Skar was still unconscious.

Back to Dr. and Mrs. von Braun. Bacillus was very hungry and impatient. It lobbied for dismembering Schultz as soon as possible. Von Braun sent it downstairs to the kitchens to spread food poisoning (AFTER their own meals were on their way up). Schultz arrived shortly thereafter, much changed from this morning: nervous, distracted and sweating. He asked for a double scotch, then got straight down to business.

"You must cease your inquiries immediately," he begged. "I know you think you know something, and I know you've been to visit a Mr. Meyer today. Nothing you find out now can bring your father back, but believe me, further meddling would be very dangerous for you. And very dangerous for me!

"Look, I'll pay you," he went on, "twenty thousand deutschmarks to leave Casablanca immediately!" Doctor and wife pressed him for more details, but he flatly refused, saying only that they were all in danger.

Dr. von Braun and Elsa exchanged a meaningful glance. "You really shouldn't drink so much on an empty stomach, Mr. Schultz. Would you like some chocolates?..."

As the sodium pentathol took hold, Schultz became more pliable. He eventually spilled his guts.

John: Schultz revealed much more in this scene than I was planning on! But it was a good opportunity to put more info into the players' hands./i]The two put their heads together for a bit over the fragment of Meyer's journal. His cryptic clue as to where he has hidden the ruby mentioned "when the moon pulls on the water." We randomly determined that the next high tide would be at 8PM, which put a bit of time pressure on their dinner plans. Yeah, about dinner...

Von Braun opined that Schultz was involved somehow in Elsa's father's death, and proposed that they take extreme measures to get it out of him. Elsa tentatively agreed to a plan involving sodium pentathol (isn't it convenient, playing a medical doctor??) and a box of chocolates. They decided to invite Schultz to dine in their rooms, for privacy and to save time. When they called the front desk to order dinner, their contact Martin informed von Braun of the latest rumours, that the Nazis had cordoned off the entire mellah and were clearing it out.

John: The players commented that Elsa seemed to slide too easily into morally questionable behaviour, ie. drugging her father's ex business partner in order to interrogate him. I thought it was in character (it's looking more and more like something shady is going on and Schultz is involved), but if the others didn't think so then I haven't been playing Elsa strongly enough.<John: Serge was quite rough with the poor engineer. Come to think of it, Ry had played Serge using intimidation and superior strength with anyone and everyone, even loved ones, whenever demons were concerned. It really showed how close to the edge Serge was over all this demon business.

Jacques promised the demon "lots of enemies to eat" (via the unwilling translator), and the Binding began. Serge knocked out the engineer, carried him up to the surface and left him in someone's backyard to recover, then went to sit on the steps of his church. Mike declared that the matter of the binding would involve Jacques and the Demon scratching in the sand, attempting to develop a means of communication. We made it a Will roll, which ended up +2 in the demon's favour. Skar was still unconscious.

Back to Dr. and Mrs. von Braun. Bacillus was very hungry and impatient. It lobbied for dismembering Schultz as soon as possible. Von Braun sent it downstairs to the kitchens to spread food poisoning (AFTER their own meals were on their way up). Schultz arrived shortly thereafter, much changed from this morning: nervous, distracted and sweating. He asked for a double scotch, then got straight down to business.

"You must cease your inquiries immediately," he begged. "I know you think you know something, and I know you've been to visit a Mr. Meyer today. Nothing you find out now can bring your father back, but believe me, further meddling would be very dangerous for you. And very dangerous for me!

"Look, I'll pay you," he went on, "twenty thousand deutschmarks to leave Casablanca immediately!" Doctor and wife pressed him for more details, but he flatly refused, saying only that they were all in danger.

Dr. von Braun and Elsa exchanged a meaningful glance. "You really shouldn't drink so much on an empty stomach, Mr. Schultz. Would you like some chocolates?..."

As the sodium pentathol took hold, Schultz became more pliable. He eventually spilled his guts.

John: Schultz revealed much more in this scene than I was planning on! But it was a good opportunity to put more info into the players' hands.

I do feel like there's a lot more we could do with this scenario if Mike and I rolled up new characters or wrote new kickers.

The overriding opinion was that we can't wait to see John GM Sorcerer again. This game was awesome, and with John's experience with both the system and the R-map idea... I am really, really stoked for more.

Next on our docket is Dogs in the Vineyard, followed by Warhammer, followed by me running Dictionary of Mu.